Hidden
by EclipsedSun
Summary: Naruto has hidden a secret from everyone that he has ever known. Fed up with the loneliness he decides to leave Konoha. He comes back to Konoha, but will anyone recognize him, will he let anyone know who he truly is, or will he stay hidden forever.
1. Escape

**Blanket Disclaimer: The original characters of Naruto are not mine, I make no profit off of this story. The voices in my head told me to write this story, so if you don't like it take it up with them.**

**Summary: Naruto has hidden a secret from everyone that he has ever known. Fed up with the loneliness he decides to leave Konoha. He comes back to Konoha, but will anyone recognize him, will he let anyone know who he truly is, or will he stay hidden. **

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Chapter #1: Escape

Kami, the pain hurt, the loneliness was excruciating, and it wouldn't go away. Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt like you were standing in the middle of an infinite crowd of people, screaming your voice hoarse, trying to gain someone's, anyone's, attention, only to be blithely ignored and forgotten by everyone. Well that's how I've felt everyday for the past twelve, almost thirteen, years of my life. I've been hidden from everyone's sight, and no matter what I do to try and make someone see me, no one does. My soul has been shattered from the loneliness that courses through my body daily, and my heart feels as if it has been bled dry from all of the ignorance of my so-called friends. I understand that they don't know any better, but in my mind I just want to be acknowledged once, to hear someone say _my _name, to talk to _me_, to look at _me_. Not my male counterpart that I was forced into playing.

My name is Namikaze Natsumi, but everyone in Konoha knows me as Uzumaki Naruto. I have hidden my image since I was four years old when old-man Hokage saved me from some bigoted villagers that were set on raping and killing me, he told me that night that I was never to tell anyone of my true identity and he erased everyone's memories of the girl that I am, and replaced them with memories of Naruto, the loud-mouthed baka of a ninja. He was the only one that knew of my true identity, well besides Kyuubi, and on the day of the chunin exams more than four years ago when he died, I was left alone with my secret, now not even the current Hokage knows of Natsumi, not my friends, not my sensei's, no one. I am truly alone in my solitude. For the past four years the only being I have been able to turn to with my troubles was Kyuubi, and let's face it, people think you're crazy when you talk to yourself. But Kyuubi is and was more of an older sister to me than a housed demon inside my body. Kyuubi was the one that taught me how to merge with her when I was five, and has continuously taught me everything that she knows, not that I can show off my skills and knowledge, otherwise I would be executed for being 'too dangerous'.

I look out over my home from the Hokage monument, my favorite thinking spot, at the village that I had sworn to protect since I became a ninja. I am sixteen now, in a couple of months I will turn seventeen, but I don't plan on being here for that awful day. It's been over three years since the Uchiha left for vengeance, I idly wonder if he ever did fulfill his dream of killing Itachi. I am now the only genin left in our age division, everyone else has made at least chunin, and some even jonin and were even now training for their ANBU exams. It's not that I wasn't able to become chunin, but rather the council was afraid to let me have too much power, afraid that I might take vengeance on Konoha for what they have done to me, afraid that I might exterminate them all. I certainly have cause to do so. I could blow this entire so-called elite village sky high and have no qualms of guilt over it. The villagers despise me, most of the shinobi only tolerate me, the only "friends" I have are the rookie-nine and Gui's team, and even they don't know the true me, I have had to endure yearly beatings on my birthday, the day of the Kyuubi festival, that I don't tell anyone about. I can't go grocery shopping for decent food, because the shop-keepers always seem to manage either to break the fragile stuff, or switch good food for rotten food, and the only restaurant that serves me edible food is Ichiraku's. All of my friends think that I'm just a ramen nut, and I let them believe that because I don't want them to get hurt or despised by the villagers. I also cannot show anyone my real powers and potential, otherwise they would use my precious people against me so as to use me as a weapon or kill me outright, whichever they think up first. Kami, it really sucked to be me, I laughed mirthlessly to myself.

I continued to stare out at my so-called home. This would be my last night in Konoha; my small traveling bag filled with all of my possessions was sitting beside me waiting for me to pick it up and sling it over my shoulders, but I continued to sit and let my gaze search the village for my few friends.

The lights in the Hokage tower were still on, signaling that Tsunade was either still working under the watchful eye of Shizune, or she was passed out again from too much sake. I felt a smile flit across my face at the thought of my self-proclaimed baa-chan and I reached up and lightly traced my fingers over the necklace that still graced my figure. It was one of my most treasured possessions, and I never took it off.

My eyes then move on towards the vast Hyuuga compound, were one of the infamous ice-princes, Hyuuga Neji, and my only fan girl, Hinata, reside. People think that I'm stupid when it comes to romance, well they think that I'm just plain stupid, but the truth was I've always known that Hinata had a crush on me, or should I say Naruto, but I never wanted to encourage her, so I just played dumb, hoping that she would switch her affections to the Inuzuka, who has had his eye on the heiress for years now, but no luck. Maybe with my absence romance would bloom between them. Speaking of romance, thank Kami I wouldn't have to pretend to love Sakura anymore, Granted she's a great girl, now that she's over the Uchiha bastard, but I'm not really attracted to my own gender, so this whole farce of my being in love with Sakura was just plain weird for me.

I let my mind drift over the thoughts of the rest of my friends. I would miss them, but they would be better off without me. Once everyone realized that I was missing I would be long gone, with no trace left of Uzumaki Naruto, well except for the letters that I had left for everyone, but I figured that they would need at least a small memento to remember Naruto by. I stood up and brushed off my black pants and orange jacket, I would be staying in my male form until I reached the outside of the village, it was easier to slip out that way. I picked up my bag and jumped off of the Yondaime's head. I let myself freefall for a minute, just let go of all my troubles, letting the wind whip past my golden locks and sting my face as it snapped at my clothes. I opened my eyes, never realizing when I had closed them and twisted in midair landing lightly on my feet, never making any sound. I hopped onto the roofs and silently made my way towards the main gates of Konoha. I slipped past the guards, not letting them become aware of my presence and moved into the forest that perpetually surrounded Konoha.

Once I was deep enough into the forest so that I knew that no one would find me I stopped and finally let my twelve year long henge fall from my form. Kami, I already felt so much better. My hair was still that golden, sunshine color that Naruto was famous for, but now the locks cascaded down to the small of my back in waves instead of short spikes. My eyes were now different though; they were the crimson red that Naruto was infamous for when he was incredibly angry, the reason why this happened to Naruto, well myself, was because in an emotionally high state, such as anger, I did not have complete concentrated control over my henge and my eyes would shift to their natural color, making everyone believe that Kyuubi was riding close to the surface, what a bunch of idiots, I snorted derisively to myself. My body was now slim with all the right curves in all the right places, I was pure female now, and I reveled in it. The only drawback in this form was that I could not talk. The accident that sent me into becoming Naruto did that to me. My throat had been slashed and my vocal cords crushed when the villagers had tried to rape, torture and kill me. Old man Hokage had fixed my neck to an extent, but my vocal cords were irreparable for him, but it's not like anyone would have been able to hear me anyways, right. In the form of Naruto I was able to talk and such because I actually was a male in every way shape and form, only I knew that I was supposed to be a girl.

I stripped off the stupid bright jumpsuit that I was forced to wear for the past twelve years and incinerated it with a low level katon jutsu, leaving behind no trace that it ever existed, as it should be. I wrapped my chest bindings around my breasts, thank Kami those were back, and slipped on my panties, I let out a gleefully silent chuckle at the thought of never having to were boxers, or briefs, ever again. I then put on my black cargo pants and my skin tight black vest. I wrapped my right arm with black bandages and put on a choker to hide the scar that ran across the length of my neck, I didn't want to freak anyone out with the ugly marking. I still wore the necklace that Lady Tsunade had given me, but I put a permanent henge like the one I had worm for the past twelve years over it to change its appearance so that no one would recognize it. Lastly, I took off my hitai-ate, tied my hair up in a simple ponytail, strapped my kunai pouch to my thigh and pulled out a katana from my backpack. It had belonged to my father, and before Sarutobi had been killed at the chuunin exams he had given it to me for my twelfth birthday. Running my hands reverently over the sharp keen edge of the blade I felt as if my father was standing right beside me. This was my other treasured possession; its name was '_Kuroi Kasai,_' (Black Fire). I strapped it to my back making sure that it was secured, packed up the rest of my possessions and slung my backpack over my shoulder once again.

'_Kyuubi, are you awake?' _I directed towards my inner demon.

'**What do you need kit?'**I could tell by her tone of voice that Kyuubi had been slumbering before I had awoken her.

'_It is done nee-san, where shall we head to?'_

'**Well, we should probably go somewhere where no one would expect us. We can't go to Suna because of Gaara-kun. We defiantly don't want to go to Oto, and Cloud is currently at war with Konoha. So that leaves Lightning and Iwa."**

'_Kay, Lightning is currently on tenuous terms with Konoha and war could break out at any time with them, so a Konohan citizen would be more than welcome there, but then when war finally came, we would be interrogated and tortured because they would think that we were spies. So I guess that leaves us with Iwa.' _ I turned in the direction of Iwa and started off, never letting my feet touch the branches that I was tree hopping on for more than necessary, that way my chakra and scent would not be absorbed into the plant life around me and no one would be able to track me. This was a trick that Kyuubi had taught me, and in my female form I used it all the time.

'**Natsu-imouto, are you sure that you will be able to leave all your precious people behind like we are doing?'**

'_I don't have a choice Kyu-nee-san. With me being the only genin in my group, I cannot be on any of the same teams as my classmates anymore, thanks to the damn council, and I needed to be placed on a new genin team, until that time I couldn't go out on any missions. And as you know, no missions equals no money, no money equals no rent or food. Ergo we could not live there anymore. Plus, I don't think that I could tolerate one more of my 'birthdays' where the villagers try and kill me without going ape-shit on them and screwing the consequences.'_

'**True, but I'm just making sure that you realize what you're doing.'**

'_I know, maybe one day we'll see them all again. Some day…'_

And with that Natsumi, formally known as Naruto headed towards her new life in Iwa, never to look back on Konoha again, or so she thought.

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"What the hell do you mean you guys can't find him?"

Tsunade's infuriated shriek rang across the village and everyone turned towards the Hokage tower. It had been two days since Naruto's departure, but no one had needed him yesterday, so no one had looked for him. Only until today when Tsunade had thought _'hang the consequences'_ and was going to try and find civilian work for him against the councils orders, not that she knew how that would turn out, even the civilians had detested the Kyuubi container, had anyone thought to even mention that they had not seen the blond knuckleheaded ninja. Tsunade had then sent everyone out to look for him, but to no avail. He was not up on the Hokage monument, he wasn't at Ichiraku's ramen stand, he wasn't at any of the training fields, and he wasn't at home. He had completely disappeared. Only after all the usual places had been checked had they broken into Naruto's apartment. The ANBU search team had looked around the spartan apartment and noticed that everything had been cleaned out. There was no food in any of the lopsided cupboards or small refrigerator. No clothes in the closet, no sheets on the tiny single bed, no pictures on the faded peeling walls, no books or scrolls on the few scattered shelves, nothing. Then they had noticed the small neatly placed stack of letters sitting on the small dilapidated coffee table in front of the old worn down couch. The two ANBU members rifled through them and noticed that they were addressed to various people, including the Hokage. The ANBU team instantly moved towards the Hokage tower to show their leader their findings; which leads us to the outbreak of Tsunade's wrath.

"Hokage-sama, if you would let us finish please," replied one of the ANBU members that had found the stack of letters from Naruto's apartment. Tsunade nodded her head and sat back down behind her now cracked desk. "We could not locate Uzumaki-san, but when we went to his apartment we found these letters on his coffee table, but everything else has been cleaned out. The top letter is addressed to you." The ANBU handed over the stack of letters into the Hokage's keeping. Tsunade ripped open the letter that was addressed to her and began to read, completely dismissing the two ANBU members that were still kneeling on the floor in front of her desk.

_Dear Baa-chan;_

_I guess you finally found my letters, huh. I've written one to all of my friends, so can you please make sure that they get them for me. As you have probably noticed, I'm not in Konoha anymore, I've left. My decision had nothing to do with you or any of the other rookie-nine or my other friends; I just couldn't continue protecting people that despise my very existence. I will sorely miss you all, but I think that this is for the best, as of this day Uzumaki Naruto does not exist anymore. Please tell the others not to look for me, I don't wish to be found. I will always cherish everything that you have done for me and I love you all._

_You always were more of a grandmother to me then a leader, I'm sorry if I annoyed you by constantly calling you baa-chan, but you were and I will always love you. Oh, by the way, I know who my father was, so you don't need to feel guilty about not telling me sooner, you probably had your reasons so I forgive you. Ja ne baa-chan, take care you will always be in my heart._

_Love,_

_Uzumaki Naruto_

Tsunade finished the short letter and slammed her fist into the desk, completely obliterating it. "That Baka!" She turned towards the two ANBU still in her presence and glared at them. "You," she pointed to one of them, "I want you to gather all of these people," she quickly wrote a list of names on a slip of paper and handed it to the ANBU, "and bring them here."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," and he left in a swirl of smoke.

"And you, I want you to tell all the villagers that there will be an announcement in the village square in two hours, everyone is required to be there, or else."

"Hai," and he too disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared out of her window, _'Oh Naruto, what the hell have you done gaki. Please don't leave us, you were our light in the darkness, we all loved you and would have protected you at all costs.' _ She continued to drift along in her thoughts and lost track of time as tears silently tracked down from her eyes at the thought of never seeing her gaki again. Not even the thought that Naruto had forgiven them for their deception relieved the tightness in her chest.

There was a subdued knock on the door and in trooped everyone that Naruto had called friend in Konoha, even old-man Teuchi. She glanced at all the faces that were staring at her in puzzlement. "I have some news for you all." She took a deep breath and continued with the news that she sincerely wished was just a very bad joke. "Naruto has left the village, and wishes to be left alone." There were loud shouts and gasps of "What!" and "No, you must be mistaken." "Quiet!" Tsunade shouted over the din of noise. "He has left us all letters and I wish for everyone to hear them." She first handed Jiraiya his letter. He gingerly took it and started to read out loud.

_Hey Ero-sennin,_

_Heh, guess I don't get to call you that anymore, huh. Anyways I just wanted to write and tell you how much I appreciated all the help that you have given me over the years, even if you are a pervert. You were one of the few people that actually saw me as a person, and not a monster, and I will never forget that. Now that you don't have to watch over me anymore maybe you could finally ask baa-chan out on a date, everyone knows you like her, heck she even probably knows by now. Anyways I guess this is goodbye and I'll see you in the afterlife._

_By the way, I know your secret about the books, but don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Lol. And you always were more of my ji-san than my sensei, I hope you don't mind._

_Love,_

_Naruto_

Everyone was laughing through their tears as Jiraiya read his letter, it was so like Naruto to make fun of Jiraiya through a letter. Tsunade handed the next letter to Kakashi, who took it with a little trepidation.

_Dear Kakashi-sensei,_

_Hey lazy bones, guess I never will get to see your true face huh. Oh well, life's full of disappointments right. I just wanted to let you know that you have nothing to feel guilty about sensei. I know that you will take all this about me leaving and pack it onto the burden that you carry around on your shoulders, if I find out you've done that I will personally kick your ass whenever I see you next, whether it be in this life or the next. You need to lighten up and live a little. I've known for awhile now why you were always late to everything, and I don't think your old teammates or sensei would have wanted you to blame yourself for what happened back then. Also I know about your feelings for a certain someone 'wink-wink' and I think that you need to find some happiness in life._

_Also sensei, I forgive you. I know you never asked for my forgiveness on anything, but I could always read it in your eyes. I forgive you for when you thought that teme was better than me, and only he was worthy of your tutelage, I still got stronger and I know that you bash yourself over the head everyday for being a lazy prick in the beginning, but in the end you made up for it and you will always be my favorite sensei._

_By the way I left you a present at the bookstore, make sure you pick it up after baa-chan has given you your letter; I think you'll like it. It took a lot of time and money to make sure you got it when I left._

_Love,_

_Naruto _

A lone tear tracked down Kakashi's cheek and disappeared underneath his ever present mask as he finished his letter, it felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders and for the first time in years, he felt a true smile stretch across his features.

The letters continued for what seemed forever. Naruto told Sakura that he would always love her and that he hoped that she had moved on from the "bastard Uchiha," and onto better things. He told Sai that he thanked Kami that he had become friends with the emotionally handicapped male and to keep up with the training on finding his emotions. Naruto told Yamuto that he was glad that he was his substitute sensei and that he was thankful Yamuto was always there to watch his back, especially at times when the nine-tails was riding so close to the surface and Yamuto was there to hold him back so as not to hurt any of his friends. There were letters addressed to Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji all giving small, light-hearted pieces of advice and thanks for being a friend. The same kind of letters went out to Hinata, Shino, and Kiba, Lee Neji, and Tenten, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi, Iruka and Shizune, and strangely enough there were also letters to Kurenai, Gui, and Genma and old-man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame.

By the time that everyone had finished reading their letters there were no dry eyes in the entire room, even Sai had a few tears flowing out of his eyes at the thought of never seeing 'dickless' again, his first true bond. There were still four letters sitting on Tsunade's crumpled desk, but everyone sitting in the room had already received their letter.

"Shishou, who are the other letters for," asked Sakura in a subdued tone of voice.

"Three of them are for the sand siblings, and the last is for Uchiha Sasuke. It says on the note to give it to him whenever he comes back to the village. Now if you all wish to wait here, I have to address the rest of the village and council." Tsunade stood up and walked out onto the platform that faced the village square where the entire village was gathered. She glared out at the mob of people and started her speech.

"Today is a very sad day; we have all lost an incredible shinobi this day. I'm sure that you've all heard about the Kyuubi vessel," there were loud boos and "kill the demon brat," being echoed throughout the crowd. Tsunade's eyes glared at the crowds insinuations about Naruto. "Well, it has come to my attention that Uzumaki Naruto has taken upon himself the responsibility of leaving the village, in his words, for good." There were loud cheers from the villagers, and Tsunade's eyes narrowed even more, as did the shinobi, and kunoichi behind her. "I have called you all here because it has also come to my attention that some of the villagers and high ranking officials, who shall remain nameless for now, have not treated our hero with the respect that he deserves." The crowd grew silent as they looked nervously around at each other.

"I am here to let you all know that things will change as of this day. Your self-proclaimed 'demon' is going to be treated as a hero of this village if it's the last thing that I do. Uzumaki Naruto, is from this day forward, my adopted magomusuko, and I protect my own. Everyone in this village, whether civilian, shinobi, or official will have a thorough background check, if I find that someone has tried to hurt my magomusuko in any way, shape, or form, I will take great pleasure in personally skinning that person alive, inch by inch, ripping their entrails out and watching them die on a slowly roasting fire, screw the consequences." The entire crowd looked back on their Hokage with trepidation shimmering in their eyes, and a cold sweat breaking out across their skin, they knew that a good majority of them were screwed, and they were going to get punished for it. "Because of our missing hero, the Kyuubi festival will be canceled this year so that we may honor Naruto's memory." There were loud moans of disappointment and Tsunade became even angrier, if that were even possible. "Shut the hell up, all of you! I'm ashamed that I have to be called Hokage over you spiteful, immature, brainless, shortsighted, bunch of sycophants. The Yondaime would be rolling in his grave if he knew how you were treating his one and only son." The entire crowd fell silent, thinking that they had misheard the Godaime. "Yes, you heard me right, Uzumaki Naruto, is in fact Namikaze Naruto, the Yondaime's only child, you ingrates." Everyone was, to say the least, shocked, especially the shinobi that still sat in Tsunade's office. "Also one last thing for you all to think about, if you had actually succeeded in killing Naruto, in one of your so-called righteous assassination attempts, there is a high probability that the Kyuubi's chakra would be blasted out of the seal that Naruto carries and destroy all of Konoha. Naruto's life-force is just one of the layers that the Yondaime put into the seal to keep the Kyuubi caged." Tsunade smirked at the sight of the crowd standing like statues in shocked silence as they remembered all the times that they had tried to kill the demon vessel. You could almost see the one collective thought running through their heads, _'Oh, shit!'_

"Yes, that's right, I'm glad you all are finally using your Kami-given heads. That boy was the only thing that stood between us and obliteration, and you ran him off. I hope you're proud of yourselves." And with that Tsunade swept back into her office and slammed the doors to the balcony behind her. "Damn, that felt good," she said as she once again sank into her chair.

"Hokage-sama, is it true? Is Naruto really the Yondaime's son?" the quiet, anxious voice of Hatake Kakashi broke the silence that had overcome the group inside the Hokage's office.

Tsunade opened her eyes and swept her gaze around the room. Everyone looked incredulous and slightly awed that the boy that they had all known for years, was actually the Yondaime's son. But there was one gaze that held grief, anxiousness, and a powerful need for validation, and that gaze belonged to the copy-ninja.

Tsunade's eyes softened when they met the single, uncovered eye of Kakashi, and she slowly nodded her head. "It was an S-class secret that only the Hokages were allowed to know. Naruto's last name was changed to Uzumaki to hide him from his father's enemies."

"But sensei said that he and Kushina were having a girl, not a boy," Kakashi argued.

"Tests have been wrong before, Kakashi. For now be thankful that you got to know and become friends with your sensei's son." Kakashi buried his head in his hands and tried to steady his breathing, _'Sensei's child was my student. Oh Kami, what the hell have I done.'_

Tsunade could almost hear the thoughts rolling around in Kakashi's head and glared at him sternly, "Kakashi, get those thoughts out of your stubborn, pigheaded, baka of a mind right now, or Kami help me I will find Naruto and have him come back and kick your ass like he said he would." Kakashi looked up and let out a slight laugh at the reminder of the threat that Naruto had given him.

"Shishou, are we really not going to go after Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Hai Sakura, he does not want to be found and frankly, I wouldn't want to come back to this village either. All we can do is clean up our own filth and pray that he comes home some day, and we'll make sure that he has a home that he would be proud of, by the time we find him."

Everyone let out a collective, "Hai!"

"Alright, here's what I want done," and she started to map out a plan to weed out all the influential people that had made Naruto's life a living hell. They put together a team to gather information on the council and any other influential official that had tried to harm their comrade. They also put together a tactician team to plan out their coup and to maneuver around and use the laws of Konoha for their side, a team to work on the civilians, shop and store owners and bring them around to their side, and a brute force team that was not squeamish about getting their hands dirty by killing off any individuals that needed to be made examples of. They wished to change their home so that Naruto would want to come back, not to hatred like he was used to, but to kindness and respect, like he deserved. Little did they know that they would not see Naruto again for at least a year.

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**Word List:**

**Magomusuko: Grandson**

**Gaki: Brat**

**Imouto: Little sister**

**Nee-san/chan: Big sister, older sister**

**Baa-san/chan: Grandmother**

**Ji-san/chan: Grandfather**

**Shishou: Master**

**Baka: Stupid**

**Yondaime: Fourth**

**Godaime: Fifth**

**Teme: Bastard**

**Ja ne: Good-bye**

**Hitai-ate: Headband**


	2. ANDon't freak out!

Hello everyone, please do not freak out when you see this note! I swear I am not discontinuing my story, I'm just working out some kinks before continuing, I've been gone for so long that I need to rework the plot line before continuing. Life has been hectic in between work and my family.

Also thanx for all the positive reviews that I received, to clarify some of the questions; one, yes this is a Sasuke and FemNaruto story. I'm not going to make Sasuke into a nice guy at first, in the beginning he will be an utter bastard with stunted emotions. Naruto will not immediately love him and when they get together it will not be the best of circumstances. Also I'm not making her mute for the entire story. When Natsumi was in her male form she was an actual male, so her voice still worked, so Kyuubi could not heal her throat because there was nothing to heal. But now that Natsumi is in her female form again, Kyuubi can work on her throat, but because Natsumi was a boy for so long it will be a longer process than if she stayed in her female form.

Hope that clarifies things for the rest of the story, and I swear I will start updating again, now that I have some free time, and life isn't a zoo anymore!


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